Manchester City hitman Alvaro Negredo finds Premier League life a doddle

UP IN ARMS: City’s Alvaro Negredo salutes the fans after completing his superb hat-trick [STUART ROBINSON]

The Spanish striker grabbed a hat-trick in the 6-0 Capital One Cup semi-final drubbing of West Ham on Wednesday to take his City haul to 18 this season.

They are now just one second-leg game away from the final and are also right in the hunt for Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup honours.

And Negredo believes there is a simple reason for City's brilliance this season.

He said: "It's really good, but with great players it is easy to play."

City are one point behind league leaders Arsenal and have scored a stunning 59 goals in 15 home games in all competitions this season.

It takes their tally to an amazing 92 in 31 matches as teams struggle to keep the star-studded billionaires at bay.

Negredo, 28, said: "We have a big squad and a team with a lot of confidence and enthusiasm to win things here."

Control The marksman has bagged 15 goals in 15 home games this season and is delighted at the way he is playing.

The £20m signing from Seville in July said: "I am in a great moment, but I hope to get better than this.

“We have a big squad and a team with a lot of confidence and enthusiasm to win things here”

Alvaro Negredo

"But, yes, my feelings and my game make me think this could be the best moment for me.

"I am very happy. It was a good team performance against West Ham and we played very well.

"The team plays well and the forwards can score goals, so it was really good overall for us in that game.

"A game like West Ham requires a lot of intensity and control of the game. We know that if they want to beat us at home, the other team has to play really well."

Can this be Negredo's best season? He added: "It could be. We just have to wait, but I'm feeling comfortable. I score a lot of goals and hopefully I can make some assists. Hopefully I can continue like this for the rest of my career." His hat-trick against West Ham was his second for City and he is now just one behind Sergio Aguero in the race to be the Blues' top scorer.

But he knows it will be hard to keep pace with his strike partner, currently out with a calf injury, over the season.

"I need to get more and catch him up because I know, when he comes back, he will score more goals," Negredo said.

Special For now, the player known as 'The Beast' is delighted with the frontline partnership he has formed with Edin Dzeko in the absence of Aguero and Stevan Jovetic, who has also struggled with injuries.

Bosnian Dzeko scored twice in the win over the Hammers and Negredo said of their relationship: "We are always looking for each other and the partnership is working very well.

"We have a special connection. He speaks a little bit of Spanish and we are able to talk. He's also a very good player and he had a really good game, too."

Meanwhile, Negredo has revealed he turned down the chance to play for David Moyes last season.

Moyes, now Manchester United boss, tried to snap up the Spain striker for just £9m last January when he was at Everton.

The Toffees were wrongly told Seville would accept a cut-price offer and Negredo insists there was never any chance of him going to Goodison.

"There were rumours, but I just wanted to finish the season with Seville," he said.

"I wanted to wait until the summer before I started looking at other options. I never really considered moving in January."